La Santa hostel is back in operation as a reception center for immigrant minors. In fact, as confirmed by the current Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo, Ángel Vázquez, the institution never returned the facilities to the company in charge of its management. "We have them rescued until the end of the legislature," Vázquez told La Voz.
It should be remembered that last October, the Cabildo reached an agreement with the company that manages the space to use the facilities as a reception center for immigrant minors after the increase in the arrival of boats to the island, which led the institution to even declare a "humanitarian emergency situation." This agreement ended in March, but at the beginning of February, the then Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo, Maite Corujo, announced the closure of the La Santa hostel as a reception center for immigrant minors, assuring that the facilities would be returned to the awarding company in the coming days.
At that time, Corujo stated that there were 16 minor immigrants left, but that they had been distributed in centers in Arrecife and Yaiza, being able to vacate the La Santa hostel. "We are now going to be able to hand it over to the island and have a hostel again," she said.
However, in recent days several citizens have contacted La Voz pointing out that the hostel was still not available to the public, and the current Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo has confirmed that the facilities are functioning again as a reception center. According to Ángel Vázquez, the Yaiza minor center, which has 15 places, was "saturated." "And in order not to saturate Yaiza, we have decided to keep the 15 for whom there is a place there and we have moved four boys to La Santa," the minister explained.
"Why are we going to saturate one place if we can put it in another without any problem," added Ángel Vázquez, pointing out that, for this reason, the Cabildo decided to keep the La Santa hostel as a reception center "until the end of the legislature."
